


Pawswald

by goth_on_ham



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Animal Death, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 09:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10806123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goth_on_ham/pseuds/goth_on_ham
Summary: Oswald comes home after a two week trip to find that Ed has had their pet cat put down.





	Pawswald

**Author's Note:**

> This is short so I was considering putting this with my drabble collection but it didn't really fit with the others.

Oswald came home after two weeks away from Gotham, the longest time he’d spent from home for some time, and found out that Ed had had their cat put to sleep. They had spoken on the phone nearly every day during his trip, and Ed hadn’t mentioned it once. He hadn’t seemed upset during any of their calls, and he hadn’t even said that the poor thing was sick.

Needless to say, Oswald was furious.

The argument went on and on and Ed tired of it long before Oswald did. Oswald wanted an apology, some display of contrition, of regret, whereas Ed seemed to just want to forget about the whole thing.

“Why are you giving me such a hard time about this? He was suffering, it was the humane thing to do.” He sighed, his voice quiet and his eyes closed as he rubbed at them behind his glasses.

“Oh, as if you’ve ever cared about what the ‘humane’ thing to do is.” Oswald exclaimed, the words coming out biting and bitter and cruel, which was just what he wanted. 

He was hurt damn it, and if Ed was going to keep insisting that he had done nothing wrong… Then he deserved to be hurt too.

“That’s not fair. You know that I liked him very much. I was the one who brought him home and you were the one who was so opposed to that at the start.”

That was true. It had been Ed who had brought him home.

He was already old when they had adopted him. He was a stray. His black fur had been matted with dirt and grime and he was terribly underweight. Ed had named him ‘Pawswald’ before Oswald could stop him. Despite Oswald’s attempts to try out alternatives, the name had stuck.

Pawswald had been a difficult cat, no doubt because of his history as a stray, and Ed had been scratched bloody by him nearly every month that they’d had him. Oswald had only been scratched once, near the start, and after that something neither of his two owners understood must have shifted in the cat’s heart, because Oswald soon became the only person he would allow to touch him.

Oswald stared into the fireplace, his eyes shining bright and his expression of hurt illuminated by the flames. After a few quiet moments, Ed put a hand on his shoulder, but as soon as it made contact Oswald batted it away. If he had had claws like Pawswald, he would have scratched him. 

He would have liked that. To scratch Ed and make him bleed and then _maybe_ he would finally show some goddamn remorse.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Ed reach out again and he turned to face him. 

“Don’t touch me. Just leave me alone.” He hissed, as viciously as he could.

Ed stilled. Oswald felt a little better at that. For a moment. Until Ed turned around and left the room. 

He supposed that he was a horrible hypocrite. He had asked Ed to leave him alone, but as soon as he did, Oswald was going after him. 

He caught Ed’s arm in his hand and then wrapped his own arms around him, pressing his face against the taller man’s back and saying that he was sorry. That he had been upset. That he hadn’t meant it. 

“He didn’t even scratch me when we went to the vet. I almost wish he had.” 

Oswald held him tighter when he heard the hint of a quiver in Ed’s voice. 

He couldn’t count how many times Pawswald had scratched Ed over the years. Yet he always took him to the vet, he never avoided him, and he was always there for him. 

Oswald wondered if he would have softened to the cat as he had if _he_ had been the one getting mauled every month.

Probably not.

“I didn’t want to tell you when you were on your trip. I knew that it would only upset you.”

“I understand.”  
  
“He was in a lot of pain, there really wasn’t anything else I could do.”

“You did the right thing.”

Oswald ran his hands over Ed’s and he could feel old cuts from Pawswald that marked the otherwise smooth skin.

He would miss him.


End file.
